Slip
by Cherry'd
Summary: She’s not sure if she’s ready to forgive him, but sure enough, he somehow finds a way back into her heart and she swears she won’t allow him to tear her up all over again. -drabble.-


**Title**: Slip

**Summary**: She's not sure if she's ready to forgive him, but sure enough, he somehow finds a way back into her heart and she swears she won't allow him to tear her up all over again.

**Rating**: K+

**Genre**: Hurt/Comfort/Romance

**Author's** **Note**: This just screams "cheesy!"

**Standard Disclaimer Applied.**

Sakura:

The day had come. Sakura guessed this day would come eventually. After all, when Naruto declared (with that stupid grin on his face) that a promise was a promise and that he would bring Sasuke back for her, Sakura, actually, knew for a fact, that one day Naruto would be dragging Sasuke's body back to Konoha, whether he liked it or not. But, still, even if she knew the day would come someday, Sakura was not fully prepared when Naruto, all banged up, with his face practically torn in half, carrying an unconscious, familiar, black-haired boy over his shoulder,

So when Sakura slowly walks into Sasuke's hospital room with the rest of the new Team Seven, she's not actually ready to confront Sasuke. In fact, she's not sure if she ever will be. After all, this was the boy she spent more than half her life chasing after. Running towards his back, only to have him jerk away within the second she thought she had almost caught him.

This time, she doesn't bring flowers. And she's not too worried about his condition. If anything at al, Sakura has discovered over the years that Sasuke is more than capable when it came to taking care of himself. A fight with a teammate wasn't even close to what would take him into critical condition.

So now, almost six years later, Sakura sits, once again, by Sasuke's side, just as she used to. It's an odd feeling. And she feels torn between reaching out and sobbing into his chest (but the mature part of her, the part that has grown-up since he left, he yelling for her to suck it up) and pounding her fist into his face until he realizes just how much pain he has caused her (though, she's not sure any amount of punches could ever measure up to that feeling.)

Instead, she opts for sitting quietly. She lets Naruto and Sai do all the talking. And with Naruto there with that gleam in his eyes, Kakashi chuckling deeply at whatever was being said, and Sasuke, with that stupid scowl on his face, just like when they were kids, Sakura feels the weight being lifted from her shoulders, and finally understands why people use such overused phrases such as that, because truly, she can't find any other words to describe how the sensation feels. And she thinks to herself, this is what's right. This is home.

And now she can let her self smile. And when the day gets late, and Kakashi and Sai finally leave, and Naruto falls asleep on his stoll, Sakura looks at Sasuke and tells him with her eyes, 'It's okay. I forgive you.'

And then she slips her hand into his, and when he doesn't pull back, she just knows everything is going to be okay.

Sasuke:

There's the most annoying ticking clock up in the highest wall of the hospital room, And that's what fills up the silence for the first few hours he is bound up in his hospital bed.

Tick, tick, tick…

The noise in obnoxious and only serves to remind him how much time is being wasted away.

When his old teammates finally come to visit him, the first person he notices is Sakura. And she stares back at him, with those big green eyes of hers that could always make him feel like the worst person in the world. She doesn't smile like Naruto or Sai, and doesn't fall into the comfortable silence like Kakashi does. She just sits next to him and remain quiet, only nodding fondly when Naruto blabs on and on about what the two of them have been doing since he left.

Naruto looks so happy, and even Kakashi looks rested, or calm, even. But Sakura…Sakura just looks, das…or maybe, disappointed. He's not sure. But there's this feeling rising in his chest. His gripping, and tightens around his heart and squeezes. Soon enough, Sasuke comes to realizes that that feeling is guilt.

So, when the talking has calmed down, and their virtually alone, Sasuke contemplates over apologizing. But he's never been the one for 'I'm sorry's. So when she gives him that chance, the small outreached hand giving him that opportunity, he doesn't deny it, and lets his fingers intertwine with his.

He can't say he's happy to back in Konoha, but he can say that he's glad to be by her side again.


End file.
